Page 33 of Creepy
“Fuck.Joey, I swear to God...”I started.
“Don’t blame me.I thought Dillon was full of shit, as usual.”
“Dillon must think Troy and I are together.He has Troy?”Beside myself, I said the obvious, to myself but out loud.
“I didn’t see anyone,” Joey said, still making excuses.
“I did,” his girl, Lucy spoke up.“I saw them roughing someone up.Is he a, pardon me, but a black feller?”Lucy asked ignorantly, confirming it.
“Anyway,” my brother went on, “whoever he is.Dillon says to tell you that you need to come over and get him.I told him to kiss my country ass.He threatened to cut my balls off.I’d like to see that pretty boy try...”
“Anything else you’re forgetting to tell me?”I was pissed as all get out at Joey.
Unbothered, my brother took a bite of food.He covered his mouth to talk.“Oh, Dillon said you have until Monday night.Whatever that means.And here.”He reached in his pocket.“He told me to give you this.”
Joey handed me a letter.It read, To Creepy with Love.
“I didn’t open it,” my brother said.
It being from Dillon, I wouldn’t read it in front of anyone.My head spun, so I laid it on the table.
As much as he loved to tease me, Joey finally saw I was visibly distraught.“Don’t worry Sis, we’ll go get your friend.I’ve kicked Dillon’s ass before.”He had no idea Dillon was not the civilized Senator’s son he remembered.He knew nothing about the Stayers.He didn’t know like I knew that Dillon would kill Troy before letting him go, especially if he suspected there was anything between Troy and me.
Arlo tried to comfort me.He patted my back, saying he’d drive over there and help rescue Troy.He knew nothing about the Stayers either.As they all tried to come up with their own plan to go rescue Troy tomorrow night.I knew when everyone went to sleep tonight, I’d be driving to Alexandria myself, hurt foot or not.I’d confront Dillon myself and do whatever it took to save Troy.
9
The rest of the mealwas a blur.I barely ate.I barely paid attention to the story of how they all met and ended up planning to come back to Creepy.
“I didn’t want to spend the winter in Northern Indiana with all that lake effect snow,” Joey explained.
Basically, Arlo trekked all the way to Indiana before he met the group who’d already decided to head south.Dismayed about Troy being captured, I ignored the fact Arlo had found little civilization from Washington State to Indiana.Although, when I learned my brother’s new girlfriend’s cousin Mabel was a nurse, I woke up.She offered to examine my leg.
Looking for some privacy, she and I slinked off to the kitchen.Her little dog followed us, and she speckled her conversation with me with commands.She agreed I only sprained my ankle.“I’m more worried about your ribs.You could’ve punctured a lung,” she warned me.“No, Bean, no.You can’t go outside right now,” she responded to the canine’s whimpers before letting me know, “You may have internal bleeding.”
“I feel pretty good, but I’m probably taking too much Ibuprofen.”The stuff tore my stomach up, too.
